Last month, we looked at grassroots road racing as part of our ‘summer of cycling’ editorial theme.
With the season now in full swing, riders will be training hard to maintain form and arrive at races in peak condition.
Building from a solid foundation of base training in the winter, the focus in mid-season is on speed and regular competition.
Amateur rider, Chris Snook, gave us an insight into his journey from TV spectator to Premier Calendar competitor in an earlier article.
Today, we take a look at a typical week’s training for Chris, one that includes in interval training, mid-week circuit racing, and Saturday ‘leg-turning’ in preparation for Sunday racing.
Chris breaks a four-week training block into three weeks of effort and one week of ‘adaptation’ (“taking things a bit easier,” he explains).
Monday
“Monday is a rest or easy day following the weekend. I’ll do one to 1.5 hours of easy pedaling on flat roads, keeping my heart rate around zone two. Sometimes, I’ll take Monday off completely.”
Tuesday
“I’ll do speed intervals for approximately 2.5 hours. The intervals are ridden at ‘threshold’, or heart rate zone five, on flattish roads, for about 10 minutes, with short recoveries between each, followed by a warm down.”
Wednesday
“I like to do a mid-week race on a Wednesday at Eelmore [a circuit race]. It’s really good training to get speed in your legs as it’s essentially an oval with two tight bends at each end. This means you’re sprinting out of each corner to get back up to speed, making a good interval training session at high speed.”
Thursday
“More intervals, in a session of between two and two-and-a-half hours. I’ll include shorter intervals of around five minutes at the upper end of heart rate zone five with one minute recoveries. These intervals are really short and sharp.”
Friday
“On a Friday, I do a shorter ride due to travel. I’m usually out for about 1.5 hours, training at around heart rate zone three, with a few sprints thrown in, and attacking the climbs.”
Saturday
“On a Saturday, I’ll ride easy gears on flattish roads to keep the legs fresh for racing on Sunday. It’s just about enjoying the bike.”
Sunday
“Race day!”
